Discoverers
Welcome Back!
I hope you have all had a lovely half-term and are well rested. I am looking forward to seeing you all on zoom on Monday morning. I have attached below this weeks learning grid. This is also on showbie with all of your work. I have been super impressed with all of the work that is being sent in and the work from the children in school. Hopefully we will all be back in the classroom again together in a couple of weeks. so lets stay positive and we will get through the next couple of weeks just as we did last term.
See you on Zoom 
As I said on the zoom this morning I am incredibly proud of all of you for all of your positivity and hard work this half term. You have all produced some amazing work and kept smiling on all of our zoom calls. I hope that you and your families have a lovely half-term spending time together and having a break from school work. I have put a grid of some activities that you can do over half term on showbie in a new folder called half term activity grid. I have also attached this below. This is not school work but a few ideas of things that you can do if you are struggling to think of things whilst you are at home. Hopefully we will all be back in the classroom again very soon. I would also like to thank all of the parents/carers for your continued help and support the children are very lucky and I feel that as a school we are extremely lucky too to have such wonderful children and families.
Stay Safe
Mrs Howarth
Following on from our diamonte poems we then looked at a poem by Pie Corbett called 'Recipe for a wolf'. We analysed the poem and then learned some of the stanzas to perform. The children then were challenged with writing their own poems based on a recipe for another animal. Have a look below at some of their fabulous poems.
As part of our work on 'Footprints in the Snow' the children all wrote diamante poems about wolves. Diamonte poems are an unrhyming 7 lined poem that make the shape of a diamond. The first and last line are only one word which is a noun, the second and sixth have 2 words which are adjectives, the third and fifth have three words which are verbs and the fourth line (which is the middle line has 4 words which are verbs. Have a look below at some of the poems the children wrote.
In science we have been learning all about light and shadows. As an extension to this wok in DT we have been building our own shadow puppet theatres. We have created the stage and some of the characters for our stories. Have a look below at some of the amazing shadow puppet theatres. Remember to look back after half term to watch some of the performances.
Find below this weeks remote learning grids. As usual refer to showbie for your lessons and for zoom links to live lessons.
Please find below this weeks remote learning grids. Lessons will be on showbie and links for our live lessons
Hi Discoverers
I hope that you are all safe and well. We have had yet another fantastic week of home learning. I have been blown away by the standard of work that you have all been sending me this week. Your attendance on the zoom/live lessons is also outstanding. I found it extremely hard to choose a remote learner of the week for each year group and school learner for the children still attending school. This was due to the quality of work from all of you and your amazing attitude. You should all give yourselves a big pat on the back. I would also like to thank all of your parents for their continued support. I understand how difficult it must be for lots of you trying to juggle home schooling with working.
I have attached below the weekly timetable grids for this week. They are also on Showbie alongside all of their work and scheduled zooms for this week. I have also added some more pictures of some of the work from this week.
Here are some of you doing PE activities this week
This week in DT we did some baking . Everyone was challenged with making some biscuits/cookies with an animal theme based on one of the animals in our class book 'Footprints in the Snow' Below are some pictures of the children's creations. I am sure that you will agree with me that they all look amazing!
Library Movie (1).mp4
Florence nightingale.mp4
This week in our History lesson as part of our remote learning and for the children in class, I asked the children to write an imaginary letter to the Prime Minister from Florence Nightingale ( in role as Florence Nightingale) describing the conditions in Scutari and asking him for help.
We had written an informal letter in literacy last week so I wanted the children to do this again but writing in a different subject .
Have a look at some of the letters that the children have written as well as fantastic video sent in by one of the children in role as Florence Nightingale. It is amazing!
I have also attached an example letter that I have written in role as Florence Nightingale but I have written to her parents. Remember you are not writing to her parents you are writing to the Prime Minister asking for things so that she can make the changes. Mine is just an example of a letter written from Florence Nightingale.
We had written an informal letter in literacy last week so I wanted the children to do this again but writing in a different subject .
Have a look at some of the letters that the children have written as well as fantastic video sent in by one of the children in role as Florence Nightingale. It is amazing!
I have also attached an example letter that I have written in role as Florence Nightingale but I have written to her parents. Remember you are not writing to her parents you are writing to the Prime Minister asking for things so that she can make the changes. Mine is just an example of a letter written from Florence Nightingale.
Well we did it we got through our first week of full timetables learning, I am extremely proud of all of you again. I have received lots of amazing work from those children working at home this week and seen lots of great work in the classroom in school too. I have attached this weeks timetables for you on here but as with last week everything for remote learning is on showbie. Everyone is using showbie really well. It was lovely to see all of you on our zoom lessons last week. I will send you links for our lessons on zoom this week. I am going to put some great examples of your learning in different subjects on here for you all to see.
This week in art at home and in school we have been looking at the artist Megan Coyle. We created a piece of artwork using Megan Coyle’s “painting with paper” collage technique. The children based their collages on one of the characters from the book we are reading in class 'Footprints in the Snow' Can you find the animals in the collages?
Hello Discoverers. and welcome to the first week of timetabled learning. I am extremely impressed with how well all of you have engaged with the learning on showbie last week. You have all sent me some great pieces of artwork for the Lowry project you completed. Well done navigating around the app and using the various features to complete and send me your work.
Below I have attached your timetable for next week. There is one for year 2 and one for year 3. I appreciate that it can be difficult for parents who are working to get there children to complete all of the tasks on the set days so I have left the due date open for the end of the week. Try as much as possible to stick to the timetable that Mrs Hunter sent out so that the day is well structured with rest breaks. Try also to do some exercise each day even if it is just going for a walk. This is good for our minds as well as our bodies
I have released the grids on showbie now so that you can have a look at them incase you have any questions. Each piece of work will be opened up for student editing on the day specified on the timetable. I have planned Phonics/Guided Reading, Maths, Writing and a Foundation Subject to complete each day. There is also Heartsmart, Assembles (from Mrs Hunter), French (for year 3 only) and spellings for you to access . If you look on the class discussion I have also put a login for Oxford Owl so that you can read your reading book at least three times per week. Please also go on TT Rockstars as often as you can.
For Phonics, you only need to do the work if you are in Blue Group (Miss Ireland and Mrs Wales' group). If you are not in this phonics group please complete the guided reading activity for the day for your specific year group. Some year 3 children will complete the year 2 Guided Reading activity. They should know who they are. Any queries please ask and I can direct you to the correct one for your child.
There are separate activities for maths for the year 2 and year 3 children. Some children in year 3 will prefer to access the year 2 maths. They know who they are.
Parents if you have any questions please do ask. You can either phone school and I will get back to you, email or put a message on your child's account on showbie. (only I can see the individual accounts.)
Good luck to you all next week and remember I am always here if you need anything. I am hoping to set up a zoom for the Tuesday English lesson. I will email the details for this and put the link on showbie in the discussions thread to join.
Good Luck and stay positive
Mrs Howarth😊
Good Morning Discoverers
This is a strange time for all of us and we will have to show great resilience and stay positive once again. We have got through this once before and we will do it again. The remote learning will look a bit different this time and we will be sticking to a timetable much like we do in school. Most of the learning will go on the Showbie app, there will be some live sessions and I will post weekly timetables on here.
If you haven't already please can you download the Showbie app and create a log-in for yourself following the instructions that were emailed to parents yesterday. All of the work for the next three days is on Showbie. We will be completing an art project on LS Lowry that will give us all a chance to get to know how to use and navigate around Showbie - as this is new to me too! On Monday a timetable will be posted on our class blog and all of the work including video input sessions will be on Showbie for you to complete each day. I will then comment on the work you have completed. Good Luck with your remote learning. I am in school all day today with the key worker children so if you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me.
Stay positive and keep smiling
Mrs Howarth
Remote learning welcome.MOV
Good Morning. I hope you are all well. I will be touch tomorrow about the procedures for the next few weeks. In the meantime please can you download the Showbie app if you have not already done so and then Sign up to showbie using the instructions below. Some of the remote learning will be put on this platform for your child to access..
Sign Up with a Username
Tap on the button that says Sign Up for Free and you’re on your way to creating your own Showbie account.
- I’m a Student
- Sign Up with a Username; Signing Up with Google and Other Sign-up Options are a bit different (see below)
- Type in your account information and then tap Sign Up when you’re done. If your teacher gave you a class code already, type it in now and then tap Join Class. Don’t have a code yet? Just tap Skip and join a class later instead
Note: Remember that student accounts don’t need an email address. You can leave the Email field empty and still create an account.
Our class code is- APAZU
Merry Christmas
Wow we have all made it to the end of term! I just wanted to say how proud I am of each and everyone of you. You have all worked extremely hard this term and shown lots of resilience, determination and we have had lots of fun along the way.
Below is a video of our class performance of a Christmas poem that was was written by one of our very own Discoverers - Elouise. I think you will agree with me that it is a fantastic poem. It is both funny and heartfelt and the children though it said everything that they wanted to say.
I hope that you and your families have a lovely Christmas and New Year. Stay safe and enjoy yourselves, you all deserve it. I look forward to seeing you all back in class in January.
PS I hope your turkey left over sandwiches are not TOO DISTUSTING!!!
Love Mrs Howarth
Discoverers.mp4
We all wore red today for remembrance as a mark of respect and to raise money for those who have lost their lives in wars and those whose lives have been affected by war.
New Homework Grid, this weeks spellings and the Ed-Start November PE planner
In science we conducted an experiment to see what type of crisps contained the most fat. We looked at Baked, Kettle and Classic ready salted crisps. We placed the crisps in the centre of a squared piece of paper then used a rolling pin, placed on top of some grease proof paper to flatten the crisps out. When we removed the grease proof paper we looked at how many squares were translucent as this showed the amount of grease from the crisps. We found out that the Classic crisps contained the most fat, followed by the Kettle chips and that the Baked contained the least amount of fat with only a few squared covered in grease.
The next day we tasted the crisps to see if the amount of fat in the crisps made affected the flavour. Dis the crisps with the most fat in taste better than the ones with less fat. There was a mixed opinion in the class as some children preferred the crisps with less fat whilst others liked the taste of the Baked crisps better. It was also interesting to see that the Baked crisps had far more ingredients than the other two types of crisps that only contained potatoes, sunflower oil and salt. We all loved doing this experiment, especially the taste test at the end.
Healthy Habanera
This week me have been learning this song for our Harvest celebrations. It also fits in well with our science topic this term all about healthy eating.
Over the last two weeks in art we have been looking at the Renaissance period. This week we ek for our artist spotlight we focused on the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Da Vinci used silhouettes to look at how bodies moved. We then created a some silhouettes showing how a body moves using the wooden manikins to help position the body. We sketched the outline only not adding add facial features or other details. The children loved using the wooden manikins and produced some fantastic sketches.
This week in history we have been learning all about Rosa Parks, the woman whose defiance sparked a revolution, changing the lives of millions of people by refusing to give up her seat on the bus. An act that became a crucial moment in the fight for equal rights. To start off this lesson and to give the children a feel of how unjust the system was in America at time the children were told that only the children with brown eyes were allowed to play out at playtime. The children without brown eyes were told that they had to stay in and work in the classroom. This of course did not go down well and the children in the classroom were very soon telling me how unfair this was and that they were very disappointed, upset, mad and felt that they were being treated very badly as they couldn't help the colour of their eyes. The children outside were very happy and felt superior to the children in the classroom although some said that they missed playing with their friends. The children were allowed to go out to play at a different time so that they didn't miss out on their playtime but the segregation lead to some fantastic discussion in the classroom.
Today is World Mental Health Awareness Day and I would just like the children in my class to remind themselves how amazing you are. Elouise also very kindly gave all of the children in Discoverers class a special gift tag on Friday with a beautiful message attached. We have been doing lots of work in science about being Healthy this week and talked about being healthy isn't just about what you eat it is about what you are thinking and feeling too.
On Monday when we came into Discoverer's classroom we found that some strange things had been happening. There was broken biscuits, rolling pins, juggling balls and bun cases everywhere. There was also some words written on the desks in icing. We think that it must have been biscuit bear! Watch this space as our investigation unfolds. This week we will be putting our detective hats on and writing some witness statements all about this mysterious visit.
This week we made our own 'Biscuit Bears' they tasted lovely! The children have also written instructions on 'How to make Biscuit Bears'
Over the last two weeks our art topic has been 'In the Jungle' we have looked at the artist Henri Rousseau who actually never visited the jungle he just took his inspiration from his imagination, visiting the zoo and botanical gardens and also from house plants. Have a look at some of the collages we made, creating a jungle background using paper and materials printed with different patterns in browns and greens to create trees and blues for water. We have also painted Rousseau style paintings by layering - painting the background first, then trees and plants.
Please find attached this terms homework grid and an information letter for parents about the homework expectations in Discoverer's Class
Please find below a copy of the letter that I have emailed to all parents.
One of the books we have read this week in class is 'Silly Billy'. The book is about a boy called Billy who worries about everything, from shoes that might march out the window to giant birds that might carry him away. One night on a visit to Grandma's, Billy is so anxious that he can't sleep. But Grandma has just the thing for a boy like Billy — tiny, colorful worry dolls, made to do his worrying for him. That night when Billy puts the dolls under his pillow, he sleeps like a log.Worry Dolls are tiny, hand-crafted dolls from Guatemala. The indigenous people from the Highlands in Guatemala created Worry Dolls many generations ago as a remedy for worrying. According to the Mayan legend, when worrying keeps a person awake, he or she tells a worry to as many dolls as necessary. Then the worrier places the dolls under his or her pillow. The dolls take over the worrying for the person who then sleeps peacefully through the night. When morning breaks, the person awakens without the worries that the dolls took away during the night. After reading the story we made our own Worry Dolls. Lots of the children have said that they have placed their worry dolls under their pillows to take away any worries that they might have.
Over the next 2 weeks in school we are focusing on developing healthy minds through lots of wonderful picture books. Our assemblies and lessons for the first two weeks will focus on these books which will help us to think about our thoughts, our busy minds, our feelings and how to deal with our emotions when we are feeling worried, sad, cross or anxious! As you do not have the books at home we have shared the links below so you can listen as someone reads it to you. Listen carefully to the words in the books and enjoy the lovely illustrations. I have attached below a grid with the activities we will be doing for each of the books. We will be looking at one book over 2 two days and focusing our learning around the book. If you are at home at the moment isolating you can complete the activities that we are doing in school at home. I will also attach the templates we are using for some of the activities in class for you to use at home. We will be starting off with the book 'Silly Billy'.
The Spaghetti and Marshmallow Challenge!
The children were set a task in groups to make the tallest tower they could only using spaghetti and marshmallows that would stand up on its own. This proved to be an very tricky and sticky task! The children came up with lots of very different ideas for their towers. The winning team produced a well thought out structure and worked extremely well together as a team. Proving that Together Everyone Achieves More.
Fruity Friday!
As part of our knew science topic this term about being healthy each Friday will be 'Fruity Friday' in Discoverer's Class. We will be tasting a new fruit each week that the children perhaps haven't tried before. This week we tried a Mango. The children had to use their 5 senses to come up with adjectives to describe the mango. Here are some of the adjectives they came up with: firm, tangy, sweet, juicy, fizzy, squishy, green,orange, round,smooth. I was extremely impressed that all the children tried the mango and that nearly all of them said that they really enjoyed it and would love to eat a full one again. Look out next week for our next taste sensation!
Welcome Back Discoverers' Class!
I hope you have all had a fantastic summer and that you are looking forward to being back at school. I certainly am as we have a very exciting term ahead full of lots of fun activities! Mrs Hill and myself have been busy getting our classroom all ready for you. I am excited to see the year 3 children that were already in Discoverer's class and welcoming the new year 2 children into our class. We also have two new year 3 children to welcome into our class. Over the next two days we will be going through any changes and getting to know each other again as it has been a long time since we were all in school together. I know that lots of you might be a bit worried about coming back to school (me and Mrs Hill are also a bit nervous), so for the first 2 weeks we will be reading some book all about ur emotions and doing lots of fun activities based on them that will help us all to deal with some of these worries or other feelings we might have at the moment or have had during this strange period in our lives.
I will be meeting you at the main gate in the mornings as this where your parents will be dropping you off and picking you up. Other classes will be using different entrances. School will look a little bit different as the new building work has started. I can't wait for the the transformations especially what is planned for our new classroom.
See you all very soon
Mrs Howarth
Over the summer you should have received the postcard below from me. If for some reason you haven't received it I have put a copy on here so that you can complete the tasks I have set, I am looking forward to looking at your phoyographs/pictues this week and next and using the pebbles alongside the emotions books we will be reading.
A short message from Mrs. Howarth to Discoverer's Class
To Discoverer's Class old and new
Words can not express how much I have missed seeing all of you together in our classroom each day. I realise this drastic change wasn’t easy, but I am extremely proud of all of you and what you have been doing at home. I hope you have been able to spend more time with your family and have enjoyed not having to set your alarms every day!
All of you have impressed me more than you will ever know. I am proud of your flexibility, positivity and resilience during these crazy times. Although this wasn’t the ending we were expecting those children moving up to year 4 please know that I will miss you immensely and please pop your heads in to see me as you progress through the school.
I am looking forward to teaching the current year 2’s in year 3 next year and welcoming the current Year 1 children into Discoverer’s class. Myself and Mrs Hill (who will be your TA next year) have lots of exciting things planned.
Hooray the summer holidays are here. What exciting things will you do over the summer? I have attached a grid of summer activities for you to do over the holidays. Those in my class next year look out for something through your doors with a summer challenge that I would like you to do before we come back to school. l will continue to miss you over the next six weeks. I hope you and your families all have a wonderful summer! You deserve it! I am looking forward to seeing you in September.
Love Mrs Howarth
Can you guess the member of St. John's staff from their baby photographs? Check your answers to see if you guessed right towards the end of the power point! GOOD LUCK and NO CHEATING!!
Some fantastic work that has been sent in over the last 2 weeks. It is great to see all of the things you have been doing. Please keep sending them in as they always put a smile on my face.
Take a look at some of last weeks home learning.
I have loved receiving all of your letters and emails this week they have really cheered me up. If you haven't sent one yet please do. Here are some of them.
Some of the 'Great Discoverer's Bake-Off' delicious creations that I have been sent so far. Keep checking here for more being added as I receive more. Who will get a Hollywood handshake?
Hi Discoverer's
I am sorry that I am late writing to you all this week but I was busy in school at the beginning of the week. On Friday and Monday we were all getting everything ready for more children coming back to school. One of my jobs was painting lines 2 metres apart on the playground for lining up and at the school gates for drop off and pick-up just like there is at the supermarkets, I ended up with paint all over me and Mrs Hill (who was measuring for me) forgot and stood in the paint which was very funny!! The classrooms also look very different and we are now in our own 'Bubbles'. On Tuesday more keyworker children came back to school and hopefully some children from Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 will be joining us soon too. I am hoping that I will get chance to see you too before the summer holidays. It was lovely to see Lucinda and her mum on Friday on my way to school walking her dog. I have also received lots of e-mails from you all this week which was lovely. If you haven't sent an e-mail,postcard or letter yet please do.
Keep up the baking I have had some great pictures of your amazing creations this week. They look delicious!! We have been baking again this week too. We made chocolate chip cookies and raspberry ripple buns. We have also had lots of BBQ's and made the most of the fantastic weather we have been having.
I hope you are all keeping well and safe and remember to send me pictures of what you have been doing at home. Take a look below at what some of you have been up to this week.
Love Mrs Howarth xx
Happy Birthday Anya! Wow 'Anya Fest' looks amazing you look like you had lots of fun. Please can I have an invite next year?
I have loved seeing some of your science experiments. Keep up the good work!
It is great to see you having fun in the sun aswell as completing your home learning
READING CHALLENGE - It is great to see you all reading and I love the different places that you have found to read. Keep checking here for more photos as I will add others to this slideshow as I receive them.
Hello again Discoverers
I hope you are all still well and keeping safe. Well this week should have been half term and I'm sure that many of you had lots of plans for things to do with your families or perhaps going on holiday. We should have been in New York this week. Mr Howarth should have been working over there and me and the girls were joining him for the week and going to stay with his brother and family who live over there. Hopefully the sun will shine this week and we can all enjoy doing lots of activities outside.
I was in school for some of the time this week and we were still at Boarshaw. However, we are moving back to St John's this week so that we can prepare for more children returning over the next few weeks. I am really missing seeing your smiley faces in the morning, hearing you laughter filling our classroom and hearing all about what you have been up to when you rush to my desk in a morning to tell me your news.
I have loved all the pictures you have sent me this week of your home learning. I have also been amazed by some of the pictures that you have sent in of your baking for our 'GREAT DISCOVERER'S BAKE OFF'. Please keep sending these in - you never know you may even get a 'Hollywood Handshake' and there will be a prize at the end for the best entry. We have been busy baking again at the Howarth household (well Isabel and Marisa have I am not allowed in the kitchen anymore until they unveil their latest creations which I have to say always taste delicious!) This week we have had salted caramel cupcakes. It was also my Uncle Frank's 85th Birthday so the girls made him a very special birthday cake which he loved.
I hope you all have a lovely Bank holiday weekend and keep sending in your pictures so that I can see what you have all been doing.
Love
Mrs Howarth
It is lovely to see some of the work you have been doing and some of the other things you have been up to last week.
Hello again Discoverer's
I hope you have all had a good week. I have loved seeing all of the pictures that you have sent in of things you have been up to at home. I especially loved seeing the science experiments that some of you have done and the pictures of you reading in different places. Please keep sending these in and check on the slideshow under the heading reading challenge on our page for your pictures.
This week is Mental Health Awareness week and the theme is kindness. I think that at the moment it is essential that we look out for each other and show little acts of kindness to make sure that people are ok and coping with the situation. I have attached a similar RE activity all about kindness to the one we did last week on courage. I hope that lots of you try some of these activities.
I was in school last week at Boarshaw with the children from our school that are still attending. We did lots of fun things and even decorated some cakes making our own multi-coloured butter cream with an electric mixer.
Whilst I have been in school my daughters have still been baking. Infact the cakes they made this week were the best yet. They made some butterfly buns with jam and cream in them and then they tried a new recipe for 'Blueberry cheesecake cupcakes' which were delicious! I have put some pictures of them below.
All of this baking and seeing all the things you have been making at home made me think that we should have our very own 'Great Discoverer's Bake Off' All you have to do is send in a picture of the things you bake at home by Monday 1st June. You may even be lucky enough to get a Hollywood Handshake!
Happy Baking
Mrs Howarth
Who will be the first to get a 'Hollywood Handshake'?
LookingToTheRainbow-FullTrackBecky (2).wav
Last weeks home learning Superstar is Adam, I love your maths. Can you 'figure out' Adam's answers?
Lucinda has been very busy again this week. Can you work out her' maths of me'?
Some great pictures have been sent in of some of you doing the science experiments on last weeks grid
Wow Poppy you have been very busy tie dying lots of clothes. Your washing line looks like a rainbow - I look forward to seeing you wearing some of your new designer t-shirts. Perhaps you can make me one too!!
Amelia's favourite work last week was her RE work on courage and learning all about Florence Nightingale - she wants to be a nurse now which is fantastic!
It is lovely to see lots of you exercising and learning new skills
VE DAY CELEBRATIONS
It is lovely to see all of the work that you have done related to VE Day and how you all celebrated this momentous occasion with your familes at home.
Last weeks home learning Superstar is Lexie. She read a book under a tree and sent it to Mrs Powell for her to share with the outdoor tots group, did lots of work about VE Day and made cakes that she then delivered to her family and friends. She has displayed some great acts of kindness and has put others before herself which is amazing. Keep up the good work Lexie!
Take a look at some of last weeks home learning.
Hi Discoverer's
I hope you are all well and have had a lovely week in the sunshine and celebrating VE day. Please remember to send me your pictures celebrating VE day at your house with your family so that I can put them on here for the rest of the class to see. I have also loved the pictures you have sent me of you reading - look out for them being posted on our class page. Anyone who hasn't sent one please send them in. The best picture might even get a prize! It is very important that you continue to read during your time at home as it helps with everything. It is also a great way to relax and forget about everything that is going on around you. It can even take you to far off magical places.
We have had a busy week in the Howarth household and loved celebrating VE day on Friday. We had an afternoon tea in the garden and lots of our neighbours did the same. It was also Mr Howarth's birthday on Friday so we made him a birthday cake, special blue layered cakes (he is a Manchester City fan!)and sweets in cones with his picture on. As a special surprise for his birthday we had also ordered him a beard and hair trimmer as over the lockdown Mr Howarth's beard had got very long and his hair was getting bigger and bushier by the day! Luckily it arrived in time for Isabel and Marisa to give him a birthday haircut and beard trim. He was very brave and let them do it for him - he didn't let me touch the clippers though I wonder why!
Keep sending me your pictures of what you have been doing at home I love seeing what you have been up to. I miss you all and hope that you and your families are staying safe and making the most of this very strange situation by spending lots of time together doing things that you don't usually have time for or maybe even learning a new skill .
Love
Mrs Howarth
Try one of these science experiments or find one of your own to do.
Egg White and Yolk Science Experiment and Prompt Card
Magic Potions Science Experiment and Prompt Card
Raspberry Pi Foundation - coding activities
The Raspberry Pi Foundation have launched a new, free Digital Making at Home initiative to support parents and young people with coding at home. You don’t need any coding experience to join in, and all of their resources and activities are free forever.
Every Monday, they release new themed code-along videos about projects designed for all levels of ability. They also provide support tutorials for parents who are interested in learning more about coding tools like Scratch and Python, and over 200 projects with step-by-step instructions that are accessible online at any time — all for free.
Sign up now to start receiving free activities suitable to your child’s age and ability straight to your inbox.
Links are:-
Re - Worship to Go resource on Courage
Reading Challenge
It is really important that we keep up our reading during these challenging times. Reading is one of the most beneficial and enjoyable activities that we can all continue to do whilst we are at home. At my house we have been trying to set some time aside each day to read. Isabel has re-read all of the Harry Potter series whilst we have been at home plus several other books and Marisa has been enjoying lots of David Walliams books. I have attached some pictures of us reading in different places. Please can you send in pictures of you reading to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk so that I can put them on our class blog. Where is the most unusual place that you have read your book this week?
I look forward to seeing you reading and hearing all about the books you have been reading. Remember that there are also lots of eBooks and audio books available free at the moment.
Love
Mrs Howarth
Ollie L has already made a start on his VE Day celebration decorations. This looks amazing I can't wait to see what else you do and what everyone else does to celebrate. Remember to look at the ideas in the booklet I have attached below with this weeks homelearning grid for ways that you can decorate your home and celebrate.
Last weeks homelearning superstar is Zakarias. You have been very busy Zakarias! I love your healthy fruit salad and the 3D shape hunt you have done.
Your planting looks great Grayson. The toasted marshmallows look yummy too!
Wow you have been extremely busy this week Anya! I also loved receiving your letter, I miss you too and I want you to know that even though I can't be with you at the moment I am always there for you.
It looks like you had lots of fun setting up your own shop and using real money. I also love your Van Gough sunflower. I look forward to seeing the great things that you are doing at home each week. Keep up the good work!
Wow you have been busy writing letters, baking, making a canvas for your grandparents and making a clubhouse. I believe that you even moved out for the day! It was nice to see that you have also taken time out to enjoy the sunshine.
Theo has been very busy this week making lighthouses, creating a map with symbols and conducting a science experiment to show how water is transported in plants.
Some very creative sunflowers made by collecting things on a daily walk. I look forward to seeing the sunflowers that you have planted too!
Hello Discoverer's
I hope that you and your families are all keeping well and that you have been doing lots of learning and other fun things this last week in lockdown. The weather hasn't been as good this week but not as bad as it was originally forecast so in the Howarth household we have still been able to go out for our daily walks and bike rides. I have loved looking at the pictures that you have sent me showing me what you have all been up to. It always cheers me up to seeing your smiley faces and all the hard work you are putting into your home learning. This weeks homelearning grid is themed around VE day which is being marked as a special bank holiday this year on Friday 8th May. We will be double celebrating at our house this week at this is also Mr Howarth's birthday. I thought that as the celebrations that had been planned for this day to mark this special moment in history can't go ahead because of lockdown that us in Discoverer's class could have our very own stay at home/virtual parties. I have created a booklet which is below to help you to prepare for your own home/virtual celebrations on Friday. I would love to see lots of pictures of you celebrating with your families so please send them to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk We are going to have an afternoon tea in our garden if the weather is nice enough and decorate our house. We have also started to practice some of the wartime dances that I have put on your homelearning grid!!
I hope you have a great party and enjoy the rest of your week in the sunshine. Remember that I am thinking of you all and can't wait until we are all back together again at school.
Mrs Howarth
Please find below a calendar for May sent by Edstart with a PE exercise that you can do everyday to keeo fit. You could involve the whole family!
Anyone who has given the exercises a do can get a certificate at the end of the month. Happy exercising!
Hi Discoverers
I hope you are all keeping well and have had a lovely week in the sunshine. We have had a good week in the Howarth household, when we haven't been working and home schooling we have done lots of things to keep busy. We have been on lots of walks, bike rides, playing in the garden and making the most of the weather. We have done some gardening, had a BBQ, done some science experiments and 7 months after we moved in eventually sorted our garage! Isabel and Marisa have done lots more baking and every week they also make a cake for their grandad to enjoy and then we drop it off when we take him his weekly shopping.
On the pictures below you can also see that my eldest daughter (Isabel) made us mussels this week under the supervision of her dad. They bought them from the fishman in a van that comes to our street every Friday, then they washed and prepared them and cooked them in a mariniere sauce. They were delicious!! Marisa has been mastering the art of making an omelette for our breakfast. Have you learnt to cook anything new whilst you have been at home? If so please send me your pictures I would love to see them as cooking is a fantastic life skill to have.
On Saturday we had a cinema evening. As you can't go to the cinema we tried to bring the cinema experience to our lounge. We had a carpet picnic with hot dogs, nachos and lots of goodies and watched the new 'Trolls World Tour' movie. I would recommend it if you haven't already seen it. On Sunday we usually go to our local Italian restaurant for a meal but we haven't been able to go recently so we were delighted when we heard that they are now doing a delivery service. We decided that we would order some food, all get dressed up and pretend that we were going out for a meal. Isabel and Marisa did their nails and even made Mr Howarth wear a suit!! I think the man that delivered the food wondered what we were doing all dressed up.
Good luck with all of your learning this week and remember to send me lots of pictures to office@thornhamce.rochdale.sch.uk It is lovely to see what you have all been up to. Take a look below at all the exciting things that children in Discoverer's class have been doing last week. I miss you all very much and hope to see you all very soon.
Love Mrs Howarth
Why not try some of these active maths challenges. How many can you complete by the end of the week?
Last weeks home learning Superstar is Lucinda. I love all the planting that your have been doing. Keep sending us pictures of the things you have planted growing.
This is a great piece of artwork Ollie. It is just like our perseverance display in the classroom, well done!
Wow this is an amazing rainbow, I love all of the symbols you have used!
Some great work to celebrate Anzac Day in Australia
Some more great examples of home learning from last week. Keep up the good work and remember to send me your pictures of what you have been doing.
From Monday, April 20, parents will be able to access up to 180 lessons a week. The lessons will provide education for all school year groups from Reception through to year 10 and will be taught via a new Government-backed online platform, the Oak National Academy. The scheme, which has been set up by teachers and funded by the Department of Education, is set to provide video lessons for students, with each lesson arriving with a quiz and worksheet to go with it.
Here are this week's spellings and home learning grid- happy learning! Don't forget to send us pictures of your learning/creations!
This weeks home learning superstar is Anya. I love your tent to keep you shaded whilst you are working. We might put ours up at home this week too!
Take a look at some more fantastic home learning from this week. Remember to send me pictures of what you have been doing.
I hope you have all had a lovely Easter and not eaten too many Easter eggs!! I am in school this week and have managed to speak to lots of you on the phone. It was lovely to hear your voices because it is very strange and quiet in school without everyone in. Since school closed I have been keeping in contact with Miss Melling to make sure that she is keeping well and I know that she has been missing coming into our class and seeing all of your smiley faces. When I was in school this week I thought it would be nice to pay her a socially distanced visit. The children that are in school all made a large banner for us to hold to tell her how much we are missing her and we took a plant for her that we had planted 3 weeks ago during the first week that school was closed. She was very pleased to see us all,
I think we made her day!
I think we made her day! 
This weeks home learning superstar is Theo for his fantastic Koala in its Habitat. Can you soot the Joey?
Some examples of home learning this week
A little message from the staff
Good Morning Discoverers
I hope you have all had a good week and managed to complete the activities form the home learning Grid. The new grid below is for the Easter holidays. Please still try to complete the blue squares daily so that you can keep in your routine. The rest of the activities are based on an Easter theme and hopefully you will have fun doing these with your families over the next 2 weeks. There is also some sheets underneath that you can print off or use as examples to make your own time capsule about what is happening in the world at the moment so that you can look back in years to come at what you were doing and what it was like. We have done one at my house.
I have been at home this week and it has been lovely to spend time with my family between working from home and helping my girls with their home learning. We have been on lots of walks, bike rides (not me, I walked alongside), done lots of baking and even managed a BBQ yesterday! I am hoping for some good weather again this week as I should have been going to Spain on Thursday. I will have to get Mr Howarth to cook me lots of Spanish food and sit in my garden instead. I hope you all have a lovely week, I am missing you all lots and love seeing the work you have been doing. Remember to email in some examples of your work to office@thornhamce.sch.uk
Adios, Hasta luego
Mrs Howarth
Some other great examples of work done last week
Last weeks home learning superstar is Molly for her Kandinsky inspired artwork
Goodbye and Good Luck Miss Flynn
Unfortunately Miss Flynn is leaving us today to embark on a new adventure. She is starting a college course in September so that she can become a Social Worker. Even though we are all very sad to see her go and we will miss her greatly I am sure that you will all join me in wishing her all the best in the future. She has promised that she will stay in touch with us and come and visit.
Look at the amazing rainbow that Ollie has made at home and his flower art. Remember to send in some examples of the work you have been doing to office@thornhamce.sch.uk
Message from Mrs Howarth
I hope that you have all managed to complete the activities on last weeks home learning grid. I have missed seeing your smiley faces this week in school. I have been in school this week working with some of you doing lots of fun activities. We have done Joe Wicks every morning in school and I hope you have too. I don't know about you and your parents but my legs have been aching a bit after doing it!! It has been lovely to seen some of you with your families walking up and down the lane whilst we were playing outside in this lovely weather. When I get home I have been doing lots of work with my girls who are doing their school work too. We have also been doing lots of baking, going for walks and playing in the garden. This weeks learning and spellings are below. Good Luck with your learning and remember to stay home and stay safe. I can't wait until we are back together again.
Our home learning Superstar in Discoverer's Class last week goes to Amelia for her amazing RE work,
PHONICS INFORMATION
Fantastic news! The phonics scheme we follow at St. John's are going to do daily phonics sessions LIVE. I reccommend Year 2 children to do the set 3 sessions. Follow this link and it will take you to the YouTube channel. More information about times are given on the link below.
Ruth Miskin have also uploaded some of our home reading books onto the Oxford Owl. There is more information about how to access these through the link below also.
https://www.ruthmiskin.com/en/find-out-more/coronavirus-covid-19-update/
Below are a range of useful websites for your child to access whilst learning from home. I hope you find these useful x
To all of my Discoverers. I hope you are all staying well and staying safe and that you have managed to have a lovely weekend. It will seem strange not seeing each other today and I will miss you but it is much better for you to stay at home. I hope you have all put your rainbows of hope up in your windows to show that just like in the Noah's Arc Bible story there is hope at the end of the storm. Please find below this weeks learning grid. Just like last week the blue parts are daily activities for you to do and the orange are weekly activities for you to complete in your home learning books that you took home. I have also attached this weeks spellings for you to practice then get someone at home to test you on these on Friday. Good luck with your learning and please send any pictures in of you completing activities so that I can put them on this page.
Home Learning Grid week commencing 23rd March 2020
In the unfortunate cases where children are not able to attend school but are still well in themselves please help them to continue on their learning journey by completing the activities in the grid below. The activities in blue should be completed daily and those in orange are one off activities. We have also set a whole school 'Dippy' challenge too. You will also find below the Dippy Enquiry walk booklets for each Key Stage to support your child in completing their project. A new class specific grid will be uploaded each week by the class teacher in the event that children may have further time off school.
On Friday we got a special delivery In Discoverers class. We received a large box marked fragile. When we opened it we were shocked to find a possum. There was also a letter inside explaining who had sent us the possum and giving us .
The letter was as follows:-
G'day!
I am a park ranger in Australia and I have sent you one of my possums. I would also like to hire you as my new researchers
You will need to research possums and write a report for me.
You will use your research to help you to care for the possum that I have sent. His name is Bush. Therefore, it is very important that you pay close attention to facts regarding their physical characteristics, habitat, life cycle and diet.
Kind regards
Park Ranger Pete
In Geography we have made river models in groups. We made the models out of salt dough then painted them. We then labelled the different features and presented our models to the rest of the class.
In our science lessons this week we made 2 different types of boat made out polystyrene. One was powered by a propeller made out of an elastic band and a lollystick and the other was powered by a balloon and a straw. We wanted to find out which force would make our boats go faster and which would make it go furthest. We had great fun testing our boats out on the water!
We made clouds out of shaving foam. The shaving cream represents the clouds and the water represents the air. The colored water represents rain. As the colored water saturates the “cloud”, it gets heavy and eventually is so heavy that it can no longer hold the water. It “rains” down into the jar – through the “air.” It is just like real rain falls through the air.
In our topic lesson the children were asked the following questions - Why does it rain? How do clouds happen? We then read the story 'The Drop Goes Plop' and found out all about the water cycle. We then made our own water cycles in a plastic zippy bag and hung them in the window of our classroom to observe over the next few days.
The next day we could see droplets of water sticking to the side of the bag. Some of these were up high (in the clouds) while other droplets were on their way back down (like rain).
Why is this happening? It's because the water in the bag is being heated up against the sunny window. That water turns into a gas through the process called evaporation. In nature, evaporated water vapor goes into the atmosphere, but in our bag, it has nowhere to go, so it ends up sticking to the sides of the bag, turning back into a liquid as condensation. That condensed water when it becomes too heavy then slides back into the pool of water below as "rain".
You could create your own water cycle zip lock bag at home so that you can see the water cycle progress and ask your child to explain what is happening.
In maths the year 3 children have been looking at the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and sorting them according to their properties.
In maths the year 3 children have been looking at 3D shapes, recognising their properties and how to make them from their nets.
On Wednesday this week following our investigations into the strange happenings in our classroom and then interviewing eye witness characters from the book 'Tuesday' we were given a very important task. As the children entered the classroom they were told that they were no longer pupils at St John's Thornham they were now journalist working for Discoverers News. They were given a deadline of Friday to write a Newspaper report about what happened last Tuesday. Keep checking this page foe some examples of their work.
Editor of Discoverers News gives her journalists a task
After looking and the wordless picture book 'Tuesday' by David Wiesner then watching an animation created for this book we now think that the strange creatures that visited our classroom were frogs! This week we have done lots of hot seating activities and witness statements for the characters in the book. I wonder what will happen next Tuesday?
On Tuesday night strange things happened in Discoverer's Classroom. When Mrs Robertson drove up the lane to school on Wednesday morning she saw strange shadows floating in the sky. She described these strange objects as flat with a bump on top. When she went into Discoverer's classroom she found lillypads and water everywhere! The windows were also wide open She had definately locked all the windows and doors the night before .) Mrs Worsley also saw these strange shadows hovering above the lane and took a photo with her phone. When she arrived at school she also noticed that the gate was open and that some things had been moved and knocked over. When she checked the security cameras all she could see was the mysterious creatures swooping and circling around school. Discoverer's have set up a Crime Scene Investigation board , interviewed the eye witnesses and made notes in their evidence books in an attempt to solve this mystery.
We have been finding out all about expeditions to the Antarctic regions and we researched Robert Falcon Scott adventures in 1901 and 1910. He was very brave to go out in conditions where it is difficult for humans to survive and eventually he died out in Antarctica. He was truly committed to finding out more about Antarctica and his work there has helped people learn more about the conditions there.
We thought about what we might need if we were to go on an expedition there. We know that animals and people cannot live in Antarctica as it is too cold and there would be nothing to eat! It is hard to imagine how cold it is there! We also know that Inuits do not live in the South Pole so building an igloo only happens in the North Pole. We did talk about the ice and held some for as long as we could in our hands. We talked about what it would be like to build an igloo and we all tried to make one from ice! It didn't last long because it melted with the heat in the classroom. We did try to make an igloo that would stand up but used marshmallows instead of ice cubes. It was a bit of a challenge but with team work and perseverance (and a few cocktail sticks) each group managed to build an igloo!
We have been having lots of fun in Maths this week practising our multiplication skills. We have used a hoop to help us get better at saying our 2, 5, 10 and 3 times tables. We also used lots of different objects to create arrays which helped us to find the product of the multiplication questions in the 3, 4 and 6 time tables. Arrays help us to find the answer if we do not know the time tables off by heart.
Our Science question for this half term is- How does blubber keep animals warm? We all took part in a 'blubber investigation' to help us really feel how blubber can retain the heat in our bodies. The extra layer of fat helps keep mammals warm in icy waters. Have a look at us putting our hand in icy water and then putting our hand in a bag of lard before putting it in the icy water. We found out that our hand stayed warm with the lard wrapped around it.
The festival of Sukkot is a Jewish celebration. It occurs between September and October.
Jewish families build a shelter in their garden that they will have their meals and pray in for the week of Sukkot. It helps them remember the time when Jews were slaves in Egypt and Moses led them to freedom. A sukkah is a three sided shelter with an open roof to see heaven.
Look at our paper models of our sukkots.
Sukkot
We had a fantastic time at the woods where we stepped back in time to the stone age. We became hunter gatherers for the day and even ate the fish we cooked on the open fire. We made traps to catch animals, made our own harpoons out of natural materials to catch fish, then we used our harpoons to catch fish in the stream. Finally we cooked the fish on an open fire and tasted it. Everyone tried the fish which was amazing to see and most thought it tasted delicious!
Welcome Back Discoverers' Class
I hope that you have all enjoyed your summer holidays and are ready for the busy and exciting term we have ahead. This term Discoverer's will be travelling back in time to the Stone Age. As we journey back to this primitive age we will look at the people and animals that lived during this time, their dwellings and the things they did and made. I have 'hunted and gathered' for some fun activities for us to do over the next few weeks, which will ROCK your world!
Mr Twit's potion for the 'Dreaded Shrinks'
Today in maths Discoverer's class were sent a video message from Mr Twit with a special task linked to the capacity work they have been doing all week
Making our own scarecrows to protect our growing salad and vegetables.
This week we have been making our own wormeries
A Wormery is a simple, clean and efficient way of turning ordinary organic kitchen waste into nutrient rich liquid plant feed and excellent organic compost. Essentially through the action of a colony of composting worms the waste is neutralised and 'speedily' processed into compost, The children have really enjoyed studying worms this week and finding out how useful they are. We will be observing what is happening in out wormeries over the next couple of weeks and recording our findings in our science books.
Discoverer's Wormeries
Here are some of the fantastic Titanic models that the children have made at home off the homework grid.
Titanic
Discoverers are very excited about their new topic - The Titanic and have been busy finding out lots of facts about the infamous ship. We will become history detectives and try to find out who really was responsible for sinking the unsinkable ship.
Chinese Celebration Day
To mark the end of our topic on Ancient China and Dragons, Discoverers class invited their parents into class for the afternoon to share with them some of the things they have been doing over the last half term. We had an amazing time and would also live to thank all the parents, grandparents and carers who came in to celebrate with us.
We sang 2 of the song that we have been learning with Mrs Purser in music - 'The Dragon Song' and 'Puff the Magic Dradon'
We performed some of the talk for writing we had done. One was from when we were writing a set of instruction - How to lure a fire dragon and the other was for a description about our own made up dragons.
We then performed the Chinese Dragon Dance that we had done in PE.
Parents, Grandparents and carers joined the children to take part in a scavenger hunt all about Chinese New Year. The competition was on! I don't know who was more competitive the children or the adults!!
Chopstick Challenge
The children all took part in a chopstick challenge. I was very impressed with how well they all did.
We ended the afternoon with the children using their chopsticks to sample some Chinese noodles. We were also lucky enough for a Chinese take-away to donate lots of prawn crackers and fortune cookies for everyone to try. We all had a fantastic afternoon!
Science Week
In Discoverers class we have been reading the book 'The Snow Dragon' by Vivian French. Following on from this book about a world divided into two - the North and the South. The southern half is ruled by evil Fire Dragons and the north is controlled by peace-loving Snow Dragons. In between the two halves live the Twolegs people. A special book known simply as 'Book' contains a set of instructions on how the world works. The Fire Dragons get hold of Book and cause 'The Happening', which destroys the land and forces the Twolegs to live underground to protect themselves from the Fire Dragons. However, a little Twoleg boy called Tuft joins forces with a Snow Dragon to save the world from the Fire Dragons by entering their volcano. This book then inspired us to create our own volcanoes. In groups the children designed their volcano which had to be made out of natural materials. They then made a bases for their volcanoes out of salt dough.
We used our designs to create our volcanoes using natural materials.
The Volcanoes Erupted
We added the vinegar, baking soda and red food colouring to the bottle that was inside our volcanoes. We then waited to see what would happen. We were very excited to see that our volcanoes erupted!! We then found out that this was caused by a chemical reaction between the vinegar and the baking soda. When they mix together they create a gas called carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is the same type of gas used to make fizzy drinks fizzy, We then considered and discussed this question - What happens if you shake a fizzy drink? The gas gets very excited and tries to spread out. There is not enough room in the bottle for the gas to spread out so it leaves the opening very quickly causing an eruption!
The Stations of the Cross
In Re with Mrs Purser this term we have been learning all about Easter and Easter symbols. To complete this unit of work the children were each given one of the stations of the cross and an area of the school grounds to read out their part. The children then walked around all of the stations listening to each other read out the different parts of the Easter story. Here are some of the clips of the children reading at their station.
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IMG_3774.MOV
IMG_3772.MOV
Terracotta Army
Today we have be learning all about the Terracotta Army, the buried army of Emperor Qin Shi Huang. We then made our own Terracotta warriors out of clay adding individual details to them just like the ancient sculptures. The children's creations are amazing and almost as impressive as the real thing!
Our science lesson this week was intercepted by an alien from Dock 5 called Zinnia. She wants to set up a hotel on her planet for humans to go and visit their planet. She has heard that a lot of human foods come from plants and would like us to investigate what plants need in order to grow strong and healthy and she would also like us to find out about the different parts of a plant that we eat.We have set up an investigation to see how important certain factors are for growing a healthy plant. Each group is looking at a different factor. They are investigating light, water, air, space, warmth and soil and how if they change the amount of this factor the plant gets will it effect the plants growth. This will help Zinnia to see if they have the correct requirements to grow plants on Dock 5.
We looked at various plant foods to identify the part of the plant that we eat, for example celery is the stem, cauliflower is the flower, parsnip is the root, kale is the leaves, sweetcorn in the seed. We then made a plant out of the food and labelled it.
We have made a Chinese dragon so that we can perform our own dragon dances in PE.
We came into the classroom today to find that the dragon had laid a black speckled egg and left behind what looked like shiny green dragon scales or skin. We are now looking after the dragon egg in the hope that it will hatch. Watch this space.....
Mrs Worsley interupted our lesson today to tell us that there had been some BREAKING NEWS. Dragons have been sighted in Louisville, USA. We watched the news clip and were shocked at what we saw. As expert Dragonologists we know not to fear the dragons and do them no harm. We need to be couragious and brave and record all of our findings in our Dragon evidence books. We have left some jewels in our classroom tonight in the hope that we can lure a dragon here.
This morning when we came into the classroom we found some strange things. The chairs were knocked over, the windows were wide open and there was a strange circle made out of rocks in the corner. In addition to this most of the jewels that we had left had disappeared with only a few of them in the middle of the stone circle. The children think that the stone circle is perhaps a dragon nest. Mrs Hunter also told us that when she arrived this morning some of the slates had come off the roof and that she had called workmen in to fix it. The workmen informed Mrs Worsley that they had found strange scratch marks and scorch marks on the roof.
Welcome back Discoverers Class
We have lots of fun things planned this term. Our topic is 'Here be Dragons'. We will become expert Dragonologists and also learn about Ancient China. Watch this Space.....
We have continued this term to study the artist LS Lowry. Our artwork has built up over a number of weeks. We have looked at primary and secondary colours as Lowry only used primary colours and black and white in his paintings. We have practised the skills of drawing terraced houses, churches and factories using a ruler in the style of Lowry and finally made print blocks based on a photograph of ourselves in a Lowery-esque pose. Here are some of our finished masterpieces.
In PE Discoverers have been doing hockey. They have enjoyed learning the skills then putting what they have learnt in practice during real games.
In science this term we have been learning all about Light and Shadows. We have been discovering through active investigation that without light you cannot see and that dark is the absence of light. We have also learnt through investigation that light travels in straight lines and looked more closely at the nature of white light through a number of practical activities.
Owl Pellet Investigation
We looked around our local area to see if we could find any evidence of nocturnal animals. We found out that there must be an owl living at our church - St John's Thornham. There was lots of evidence of owl pellets on the steps. Mrs Powell kindly brought us some samples into class so that we could see what was inside an owl pellet. After researching owls we had found out that owls don't have any teeth so they swallow their food whole! Therefore they can't digest the bones,teeth and fur of their prey. These “extra” parts are formed into a tight PELLET inside the owl and are then are later SPIT UP by the owl.
Inside the owl pellets that we looked at we found tiny teeth,bones and fur. The children were amazed to discover this.
Fun in the snow
While the World is Sleeping
On Tuesday night as part of our new night time topic Discoverers came back to school at night wearing their pyjamas. We all brought a teddy, a torch and a mug to help us with the activities that Mrs Howarth had planned. We learnt all about nocturnal animals. First we played a game where we had to guess the nocturnal animal sounds. Then we went on a scavenger hunt looking for nocturnal animal facts with only our torches to light the way. When the children entered the hall they couldn't believe their eyes! There was a hug inflatable planetarium waiting for them. We all went inside to learn more about night time before snuggling up with a hot chocolate and biscuits whilst they listened to a bedtime story - "While the World is Sleeping". We all had a fantastic time and enjoyed seeing what school was like in the evening.
Our Night time adventure at school
What we have found out about Christmas in Spain
In Discoverers Class we have learnt all about Christmas in Spain – ‘Navidad En Espagne’. We found out that in Spain as well as Christmas day, there is another festival that is celebrated that is about the Christmas Story. It is called Epiphany and is celebrated on 6th January. In Spanish, Epiphany is called Los Reyes de Magos': in English this means 'The festival of the three Kings’. Epiphany celebrates when the Kings or Wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus. Children receive some presents on Christmas Day from Father Christmas, but most are received at Epiphany, when the Kings bring presents.
"Roscon de Reyes" is a traditional dessert, served the night before or morning of “Los Reyes” It is traditional to put several surprises inside the "roscon." In class we made our own Roscon and ate it in the traditional way dipped in a thick hot chocolate. It was delicious!
We also found out about another Spanish tradition. 'Tio Navidad'. In a region of Spain called Catalunya the children are given a decorated log with a blanket. They receive the log on the 8th December then have to look after it like a pet until Christmas Eve.
We designed and made our own Tio Navidad. On Christmas Eve the children tap the log in the hope that their tio Navidad will deliver them sweets under its blanket. I wonder if ours will work?
Rochdale Fire Museum
Discoverers class had a great time at Rochdale Fire museum thanks to Bob and his team of volunteers. We took part in a Great Fire of London workshop to start with then had a tour of the museum. The children were able to see historic fire engines and learn about fire fighting in Manchester throughout history. They had a very hands on experience, being able to hand pump some of the old fire engines, try helmets and fire fighting equipment on and some even got to try to slide down a replica fire pole.
Rochdale Fire Museum
Discoverers Class Assembly
The children performed their story of the Great Fire of London through drama and song. They were fantastic and I hope you all enjoyed the performance especially the bacon/sausage sandwiches afterwards!